The mother of a Bassett man missing since early October fears the worst.

“I’ve sort of given up hope of him being fine. I just wish they would find him and find out for sure,” Frances Dodson said of her son Ricky, who has been missing for more than 10 days.

Frances Dodson said she last saw her son around 7 or 7:30 p.m. Oct. 3, when he visited her to get an update on a family member’s condition after surgery.

Ricky Dodson stopped by to see “if the surgery went all right and all that. That’s the (last) time I talked to him,” Frances Dodson said. When he left, Ricky Dodson said, “‘I love you. I’ll see you later,’” his mother said. “That’s about what he said every time we talked.”

Authorities in Henry and Franklin counties are searching for Dodson, and “I know they are doing all they can,” Frances Dodson said. “I just pray it don’t take so long” to find him.

Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry said authorities are asking for the public’s help to find Dodson, who could be injured or in need of medical attention.

Dodson was seen with Vicky Purdy, also of Bassett, a couple of days before Purdy was reported missing, Franklin County Sheriff’s Lt. Philip Young said. Purdy’s remains were found in a burned car Oct. 6.

Dodson and Purdy were friends, according to Frances Dodson, who recalled seeing what she thought was Purdy’s vehicle at Dodson’s home Oct. 3. The two live near one another, she said.

“I’m pretty sure” it was her vehicle, Frances Dodson said. “I wouldn’t swear to it, but I’m almost sure her car was up there” when Ricky Dodson went to his mother’s home to check on his relative, Dodson added. She described Purdy’s vehicle as a white Toyota.

Dodson did not mention any plans he had that night, his mother said.

Authorities have said Purdy last was seen by her husband Oct. 3. The burned vehicle with her remains inside was found Oct. 6 parked on Philpott Road, near the Henry/Franklin county line, authorities have said.

Dodson, 51, had worked a self-employed carpenter, his mother said. He had been married “a long time ago and has a daughter, a grandson and a son-in-law,” she said. Frances Dodson said her son served four years in the Marine Corps and was discharged shortly before his father’s death in 1980.

When he was younger, Dodson said, her son occasionally went camping and had fixed up a camper that he called home. His hobbies also include working in his yard, and Frances Dodson said her son hand-dug a koi pond that is “big enough to go swimming in.” He also enjoys working on old lawnmowers and bikes, she said.

His being missing “is driving me crazy. I just have so many questions that’s not answered and all that,” Frances Dodson said. “I know they (authorities) are doing everything they can to find out what’s happened and all, but I don’t (think he’s OK).”

Frances Dodson said her son “would not have let me worry like this” if he were able to contact her.

She encouraged anyone with any information about her son to contact authorities.

In Henry County, call 638-8751, or Crime Stoppers at 63-CRIME (632-7463).